Together
by Red-Dream
Summary: It was the first time they were together. It was such a simple pleasure, really. Who would have thought? But he was finally at peace. Very short one-shot from Hei's point of view, from when he was younger. A take on what his childhood may have been like. More in-depth summary as A/N inside the chapter.


**Author's Note:** A short one-shot I wrote just now as I came home. It's from Hei's point of view, because it seemed the most likely to me that he would suffer through this, but the inspiration comes completely from my life. I know it's pointless, with no plot, but the words just kind of flowed out by themselves. I hope that for just a moment, you can sit back and appreciate the simple little occasions that mean nothing to anyone but you. We venture out to a new world with hopes high; let those dreams grow into a reality.

As a complement to this, I suggest listening to a song called Soulmates from the anime Soul Eater.

* * *

It was the first time in his life he had seen them together. It was strange, almost. You'd think that someone had seen their mother and father together before. But no.

For as long as Hei could remember, he had been travelling between two houses to see one or the other. He always had two rooms. Two beds. Two celebrations of the same holiday. And two pieces of his one heart.

He had been too young to remember, but his parents had divorced when he was only 3. He was told that one time, he had tried to bring their hands together. It had upset him that they weren't. The deepest, purest instinct in his heart cried out every day as he grew, calling out to his parents, calling out to the family he never had. He scoffed, laughing about it, but inside he knew it was true.

As an adolescent, he raised himself when his parents weren't around. He didn't know what it was like to be loved by one family, and it scarred him so deeply he didn't even know it was the reason he acted out. He never thought about it. Never cared. He started to dislike his parents, and almost hated them. He blamed them for the way he was, for never having time for him, for always working and never giving him the true relationship between parent and son he didn't know he needed. All along, it had been him, buried inside, just trying to deal with the hand that fate had dealt him.

So that day, that one fateful day- the rain had been pouring; thunder clapped across the sky, shaking the ground- when he walked out of the theater, cap and diploma in hand, amidst the cheers of friends and their families, he saw them together. For the first time in his life, he was seeing his parents together. And suddenly, he felt peace. Like the abrupt strikes of lightning as they had entered the theater to graduate, everything melted.

He squinted as the clouds parted, and the sun itself peeked out from behind them to shed its light and warmth onto the earth below. He had prayed- oh yes, he prayed for the first time in a long time of his own accord- that the sun would come out, but when it actually did, he was too awestruck to realize why. Love had a curious effect. It had cured not only the storm outside, but the storm in his heart. The tempest and the fury and all the years of pain that had been bottled up and spilling out were quelled. He was no more than a little child, sucking on his thumb as his parents cradled him.

While they had given him long hugs and congratulated him on the graduation, while they had acknowledged how he had grown, he didn't feel like it. The child crying in his heart- him- was finally soothed. How simple it was, to see both your parents together, not spilling poison from their mouths behind each others'back, not screaming, or frustrated, or drinking and showing him all the ugliness of life. They were smiling.

He put his hand to his heart, posing for the flash of the camera, and double checked to make sure he was smiling too. He was. His heart throbbed achingly, and he was smiling. He felt so light… Not a care in the world. He wanted to hug them both, to kiss them, to tell them he loved them. Things he had never done before. And he wanted to cry. A quivering feeling in his chest threatened to release a tear down his cheek, and he urged it to, to finally put an end to the chapter of his life he wanted to let go of. But it didn't fall. As the rain had stopped, so too did his tears not stain the ground. He just kept smiling. Nothing felt so natural.

For the first time, he was seeing his parents together. And he was with them.


End file.
